Green Tips- to shoot or not?

B

baddarryl

New member
Hi all. I have done some testing recently and of the several brands I tried the American Eagle 855 62gr Green Tips did the best of the cheap stuff. I need to get some ammo for an event next weekend and don't have time to try different 62gr stuff. All there is around here is 55gr everywhere. Truthfully Federal 193 didn't too badly, but sometimes fails to eject. My question is with the climate and attempt to ban it a couple of years ago are you guys shooting or hoarding it? I can buy some tomorrow and am wondering this or will get some more 55gr. My rifle does shoot the greens pretty well though. I will do through about 350 rounds next weekend. Thank you!
 
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I don't understand why there's a question. If you're going to buy ammo tomorrow anyway, and the 62-grain shoots better in your rifle, why would you NOT buy the 62-grain ammo?
 
M855 is the 62 grain "green tip". You said sometimes it fails to eject. If you are having FTEs with good quality military grade ammo then you have a rifle problem. As far as hoarding M855: It's my preferred general purpose round (IMI brand is my favorite), and I keep a fair amount handy, but I am still shooting it. It's not terribly difficult to find for a reasonable price.
 
M855 is the 62 grain "green tip". You said sometimes it fails to eject. If you are having FTEs with good quality military grade ammo then you have a rifle problem.
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My mistake. It was late and I mean 55gr Federal 193's. Everything else runs fine but that.
 
I don't understand why there's a question. If you're going to buy ammo tomorrow anyway, and the 62-grain shoots better in your rifle, why would you NOT buy the 62-grain ammo?
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I am not really a hoarder, but I do like to keep a stock of things around. There is a little part of me that wonders if they will ban this stuff and therefore.........
I guess we can never really know.
 
If your rifle is happy with M855, by all means buy it!

I've been trying to burn up all my XM855 at the range, and stocking up on XM193 for plinking and Mk262Mod1 (77-gr OTM from Black Hills) for SHTF.

I live in a dry desert area and there have been several brush fires lately blamed on target shooting, so I think it's only a matter of time until bullets with steel cores and bi-metal jackets are put on the no-no list in my area, along with tracers...
 
baddarryl said:
I am not really a hoarder, but I do like to keep a stock of things around. There is a little part of me that wonders if they will ban this stuff and therefore.........
I guess we can never really know.
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Doesn't matter if you're a hoarder. Your gun doesn't like 55-grain M193, so don't buy 55-grain M193. Your gun likes 62-grain M855, so buy 62-grain M855. If you're not into hoarding, buy enough to shoot. If you want to stockpile a little extra, buy a little extra.
 
^^^ I think AB's answer has it pretty well covered, but here's another way I like to look at it...

When contemplating future bans, my general rule is that I do not hoard anything that I am unlikely to willingly use.

In the case of ammo, I primarily buy types that I like to shoot, and that function well in guns I own today.

I DON'T hoard on the basis of what I might be able to barter at a gun show, or what might work in Gun X that I want to buy in the future. I'll admit to having bought a few items on this basis, but only when I have some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket, and my present shooting necessities are well covered.

I try to be mindful that—unlike the 94 AWB—future bans may restrict what I can lawfully buy and sell, not merely what I can own. I don't want to wind up holding proverbial albatrosses that I can't sell OR use.
danco said:
If your rifle is happy with M855, by all means buy it!
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Yes! But do it because "I will shoot it someday", and NOT because "I will be able to sell it for 5x the current price someday, so I'm afraid to shoot it". :rolleyes: Don't let that second thought cloud your judgment.
 
"...If your rifle is happy with M855, by all means buy it!..." Yeah!. The range might have issues with it though. King Obama's minions are trying to make the M855 stuff evil. Range operators might get PC on you.
"...brush fires lately blamed on target shooting..." No proof either? Any place would have to be extremely dry and excessively unlucky for sparks from a bullet hitting a rock to cause a fire. Unless there are shooters using incendiaries.
 
hypothetically, if they did ever ban green tip, the gun industry would just make a different equivelent. Kind of like the "cop killer" bullet ban.

what I would be more concered about is them banning your rifle.
 
I agree with rickyrick, I would stock up for any ammo shortages.... that tend to follow political elections.
 
I don't think I've ever shot green tips out of my AR. They can pose a problem when shooting at steel targets (particularly those not owned by you). I always found 55 gr FMJ in .223 loads to be available cheaper than M855 and suit my purposes just fine. If I want to shoot something more than that, I've used 60 grain V-Max.

Green tip is fine when it's available cheaper than other options but I don't understand why they're so frequently used for standard sporting purposes. I can almost always find other brass cased ammo available cheaper. Maybe somebody can explain this to me.

In any case, shoot what works well for you and buy some extra to put it away if you want. If it's a local event involving steel targets, I wouldn't shoot it and some ranges or groups won't let you.
 
I think because it's 62gr (most people's favorite bullet weight) and can be had in bulk. I too am happy to shoot 55gr fodder, I avoid green tip, hard to find a place to shoot it at times.
 
Last time I checked, there is no shortage of ZQI 5.56x45 M855 available on-line. It doesn't have the green tip, but it's supposed to be the same bullet. Shoots the same in my Saiga223.
 
"...brush fires lately blamed on target shooting..." No proof either? Any place would have to be extremely dry and excessively unlucky for sparks from a bullet hitting a rock to cause a fire. Unless there are shooters using incendiaries.
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Well, I agree with you. But, the Fire officials around here are blaming Target Shooters for almost everything but obvious lightning-sparked fires.

Funny thing is, the Regional Shooting Facility is busy every weekend, with a boat load of bullets flying downrange into the dry brush and rocky hills behind, and no fires have been started there...
 
The only time I've seen grass fires from shooting was in the army using large quantities of tracer ammo, never from ball
 
"...brush fires lately blamed on target shooting..." No proof either? Any place would have to be extremely dry and excessively unlucky for sparks from a bullet hitting a rock to cause a fire. Unless there are shooters using incendiaries.
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I spoke with a forest ranger at a cleanup event this year about this and he said the dept puts out several fires each year at the popular public land shooting locations we have here. Yes it does take very dry conditions but there is more to it than just sparks from a rock.

its well worth the quick read, here is an official study done on the subject: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_rp104.pdf

I’m no expert but my theory is hundreds of rounds shot at one target puts them all in the ground impacting each other and objects like rocks in a very small spot. Solid copper and bullets with steel components have higher risk... The better the shot you are the more concentrated the heat build up over time in one spot so its not just a possible spark but the bullet itself can reach over 1400 degrees from the impact with other hard objects. The bullets can smolder unnoticed for any amount of time before ignition long after the target shooter has gone home perhaps the reason many target shooters don’t agree that target shooting can cause fires.

here is an example of one such fire back in 2014: http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2014/09/estacada_fire_blaze_started_by.html
 
I hate green tip. It's good for punching .224 diameter holes and that's about it, it doesn't even do great against auto glass. M193 55gr is much better against soft tissue and generally cheaper. Maybe not quite as accurate but if it's for SHTF then the difference is negligible. If your rifle isn't cycling correctly with 55gr then, like Ben Towe said, you have a rifle problem. Sounds like you're not getting enough gas.
 
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